I proofread the awesomely awesome Julie's post on how YA authors are magical and it instantly did two thing: 1) Got me all teary-eyed. & 2) Made me think. So you should go read it. Like now. But come back!
YA is the most underestimated genre I've ever seen. People mock it, people don't understand it, adults barely even consider it real books. But they're wrong. They. Are. So. Wrong.
YA is beautiful, even more beautiful than the most literary literacy you could find and stuff in my face. It's beautiful to me. And that's the amazing thing about it. YA books have such an impact on my life, on the life of the teens (or teens at heart) reading it. Reading a book as an adult is different, reading a book was teen is something else altogether.
When I was 10, I read The Clique series by Lisa Harrison. I was in love. I'd wait and wait for the next book to come out, I fangirled over them once I bought them, I worshiped Lisa Harrison for giving me these books to read and enjoy. I don't read them anymore but the impact they left on me was immense.
Those books are the reason I write. I had written before, not big things, but when I read those books, they gave me inspiration. They gave me courage to pursue my dreams and not let anyone tell me that I couldn't do something. It wasn't the message in the books, or anything like that. It was the sheer fact that some person in the world was writing this book for me. Was writing it so I could pick it up and squeal and shout and giggle and jump up and down like a maniac in my room. She was writing for the world, writing to make little girls like me happy. And I wanted to do that. I wanted to make the world happy. That's what YA authors do.
Heh, I'm getting teary-eyed writing this post. YA shaped me, molded me into the person I am today. Teens haven't changed completely yet, we haven't grown, matured, experienced everything we want to. The joy you feel picking up a book, flipping through it's pages, is a part of your childhood. A part of who you are and who you can become.
YA authors are amazing, wonderful, brilliant people who understand us as teens and us as people. I've meet the nicest YA authors from Kiersten White, Shannon Delany, Anastasia Hopcus, Jackson Pearce and so many more who just want to talk to you. You read their books, you love it, it changes you, and they want to hear what you have to say!
They're the nicest people you could possibly meet! And they don't write for money, for fame, they write for us. Because they know that they can make a difference, touch into our very hearts and souls and make us feel special and amazing. You can relate to their character, which I think is the most surreal and wonderful part of reading YA. When you read adult novels in our age, we don't understand the characters. They're adults, they've lived there lives much more than we have. YA novels focus on ourselves, discovering ourselves, losing ourselves in the midst of the hardest moments in a persons lives.
I think being a teenager is the crucial point in people's lives. It's a moment where you can make mistakes, where you can take a wrong turn, but you can get back up again. You can do something wrong and it's not the end of the world. You can do different things, live different lives, meet new people and places and just live. Live and not worry about taxes and the rent and all those other "adult" things that they have to worry about. You can do whatever you want, do what inspires you.
So thank you YA authors, for understanding. For making me feel like I can fly, like I can run, like I can be anything I wanna be. If I just try. For making me feel like a can be a werewolf, a vampire, a faery, a graceling if I just believe. Imagination is the most precious thing a person can have. Thank you YA authors, for not losing that imagination that the world finds so rare and beautiful. Thank you for not keeping it to yourself and sharing it with the world.
Thank you & happy reading :)
-Harmony B.
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